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Business Journal reports: Proud Ground's Jesse Beason is a 2011 Change Agent
The December 24, 2010 cover story of the Portland Business Journal, "Leaders tackle tough issues in 2011", includes Proud Ground Executive Director Jesse Beason.
Here's editor Rob Smith's story:
Jesse Beason: the Change agent
When Jesse Beason took over as executive director at the former Portland Community Land Trust, he knew things had to change.
First was the name. A series of focus groups revealed that people thought the nonprofit was a real estate brokerage. They confused it with the Portland Development Commission, or thought it was a land conservation organization.
Now known as Proud Ground, the nonprofit helps low-income families purchase their first home at below-market value. In exchange, the homebuyers agree to sell the home at below-market value when they’re ready to move out.
Beason, who took over in 2008, quickly refocused the organization, whose annual operating budget is $550,000. Proud Ground now targets minority communities to “address the home ownership gap that exists between families of color and white families,” he said. “We talk about our mission differently and present ourselves differently.”
Proud Ground recently completed an Earth Advantage LEED Platinum condo project at New Columbia called Woolsey Corner. The organization plans to build its first project next year in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, a LEED Platinum duplex.
Beason’s work has garnered national attention. The organization recently received a $200,000 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders grant, and Beason will participate in the bank’s Neighborhood Excellence Leadership Program.
He is also a graduate of the Future Leaders Initiative, a year-long intensive leadership training program focused on community development professionals based on Harvard’s Achieving Excellence program.
— Rob Smith
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